1. Technical Field
The embodiments described herein relate to processing images of documents captured using a mobile device, and more particularly to real-time processing and feature extraction of images of payment documents for classifying the payment document therein.
2. Related Art
Financial institutions and other businesses have become increasingly interested in electronic processing of checks and other financial documents in order to expedite processing of these documents. Some techniques allow users to scan a copy of the document using a scanner or copier to create an electronic copy of the document that can be digitally processed to extract content. This provides added convenience over the use of a hardcopy original, which would otherwise need to be physically sent or presented to the recipient for processing. For example, some banks can process digital images of checks and extract check information from the image needed to process the check for payment and deposit without requiring that the physical check be routed throughout the bank for processing. However, the type of information and the accuracy of information which can be processed from an image of a check are limited. As a result, some checks cannot be processed and are rejected during the mobile deposit process. Furthermore, the types of documents which can be processed are often limited to checks, as other financial documents have varying formats and sizes which are too difficult to process electronically.
Mobile devices that incorporate cameras have also become ubiquitous and may also be useful to capture images of financial documents for mobile processing of financial information. The mobile device may be connected with a financial institution or business through a mobile network connection. However, the process of capturing and uploading images of financial documents is often prone to error and produces images of poor quality which cannot be used to extract data. The user is often unaware of whether the captured document image is sufficient and ready for processing by a business or financial institution. Additionally, the variety of formats, sizes and content found on different types of financial documents makes capturing a quality image and accurately extracting content a difficult process.
Therefore, there is a need for identifying a document type from a digital image of a document captured by a mobile device and accurately extracting content from the document.